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Saturday, 12 December 2015

As I embarked upon my Odysseyan quest
to sample the delights of the various game systems on offer following the Great
Schism of 2015 my first port of call in the storm of uncertainty was the
peculiarly unique world of Wyrd’s Malifaux.

This is a game that I had always
been intrigued by, but had little knowledge of. The sum of my knowledge, in a
general sense, was an episode the fantastic podcast World’s End Radio did years
ago discussing the background and fundamentals of the game. More locally I knew
it as the game that current Warhammer ETC Captain #FatCraig used to play, apparently
inevitably getting into and placing in the Masters, before quitting, I believe,
as people do across all games, at an edition change. Even more recently, in the
past 18 months or so, occasional guest author on this blog, the Panzer himself,
had finally had enough of dice hating him and, leading to him throwing himself
into the game full bore.

I was loosely aware of some of
the models (some of which I thought was great, some of which do nothing for me)
of course, and the general pseudo steampunk Western vibe. I also had a vague
recollection that the background and imagery was supposed to be rather… ‘racy’

You’ll agree then, limited
knowledge going in.

Which is fun really.

The below are some short thoughts
following my initial exposure to this game:

So, first up, I browsed around
online to see what was, as they say, what. Some cool resources on there – the
PullMyFinger website has a *lot* of information, which is handy, because Wyrd’s
website really doesn’t. On a related note I noticed for the first time (and I
never thought I would say this) that Games Workshop’s website is really very good,
allowing for easy browsing of the various models and armies on offer. With
Wyrd… well, not so much. I literally have no idea what is out at all, what is
only out in the old metal models, and what has been released in plastic, and
end up having to resort to checking out Element Games to see what they have on
sale.

[I am sure that maybe the information is all out there on Wyrd’s
website… but I haven’t found it – not that I tried too hard, but then I shouldn’t
have to, surely?]

One other thing I learnt from the
internet is that if you go down this particular rabbit hole you have to change
out the end of as many words as possible to ‘-faux’ to be taken seriously. A bizarre affectation to be sure, but
is seems a small price to pay…

So, enough foreplay and into the
meat of things.

The local club, South London
Legion (the guys who have put on the very well received London’s Burning and
London’s Calling events) is a good group of guys who play pretty much
everything out there, including a small core of Malifaux addicts.

Here I managed to organise some
intro games, playing three short games with a growing number of models to get a
sense for the feel of the mechanics.

I liked it.

My wallet was not happy about it,
but hey, that’s half the fun.

My main girl Perdita has been doing a good job of shooting things in the head so far

Cue weeks of trying to get a
sense of what was out in plastic (I have no interest in metal models). Going in
to a new game, I could get into things purely from a model perspective. Here I
noticed the paucity of centralised information relating to the actual models
around.

I did eventually find out
something quite useful though. I don’t actually like most of the models out
there. Other than a lot of the guild models and some of the Ten Thunders stuff,
the more ‘fantastical’ stuff really doesn’t appeal to me. This meant I could
more easily limit the number of models I bought, and encourage me to paint things.
Win win (well perhaps less so on the last bit)!

Cue some more reading up (and
listening to podcasts – there are a *lot* of them out there!) as I decided on
what to get to get the ball rolling. My first purchase consisted of:

Lady Justice crew box

Perdita Ortega crew box

Sonia Criid crew box

Guild Austringers box

The Malifaux 2E book

Deck of Fate Cards

Bringing law, and traffic cones, to the dark streets of Malifaux

Not long after I added:

Abuela Ortega

Lone Marshall

Crossroads Expansion book

Scheme & Strategy Cards

The thinking was simple enough… get
enough to get my teeth into things and to give me some flexibility

The next day (seriously, these
deliveries are fast!).

Down the rabbit hole we go!

Nino the Ninja. Or something

So… the book is an interesting
beast.

The rules are all pretty clearly
laid out and make sense. All good.

The background (really the key to
my enjoyment of things) is cool… but very short. After the succinct descriptions
of the overall world, and the short summary of each faction in the game I
noticed an interesting quirk of this game – the way they convey the background.

This is, of course, coming from
historical bias. I am used to the stage being set in a pseudo encyclopaedic
style (even if sometimes knowingly coloured by narrative bias). Even without
realising it, it turns out I really like it, and am not a fan of this
alternative way of doing things.

I get it, of course. Conveying
the background in story form is a fantastic way for people to swiftly become
immersed into the world. Furthermore, not all companies have the infrastructure
to have an in-house publishing division providing this side of things. It comes
down to, personally, a matter of weighting, and my position not being overly helped
by my not being that interested in the subject of the stories published in the
main book or the follow up book Crossroads (I haven't bought the third book yet).

Overall through, I enjoy the
sense of a wider, complete, world that this game inhabits. I like the fluff of
my chosen faction, the Guild – coming across as a very grimdark mixture of the
law in a lawless land, riddled throughout with corruption and competing
interests – it feels somehow ‘real’. As for the perceived ‘raciness’, I am not
sure if it has been toned down since the first edition, but it’s not something
that really comes across in the fluff. Some (or perhaps quite a few) of the
models are overly sexualised but, despite understanding why some people do not
like that, I personally have no issue with it.

Blind lady with a big sword. My favorite model in the game (pity I can't paint worth a damn)

One thing became apparent when it
came to assembling models… the guys over at Wyrd are sadistic. There is no
acceptable reason for the models being *this* fiddly to assemble! It is
madness. Small models with heads that are made of 3 parts just shouldn’t be a
thing…

Malifaux is an interesting beast.

There is a large and passionate
community out there for this game, as can be seen by the large number of
podcasts on offer. Interestingly, however, the unique nature of the game makes
it a tough subject to podcast about in a coherent way… not saying the podcasts
aren’t fun or good (and am sure they get even more so the more you know about
the game), but the options are so varied, and people seem agree with each other
so rarely, that one can easily feel like a oarless dingy in the wilds of the
Southern Ocean.

Cowboys with big birds are a thing, right?

All this makes entering this
particular shark tank very confusing. There is no concrete source of
information you can get to build on as a foundation, given the way in which the
opposition, the strategies, the schemes, the deployment, the terrain and your
available collection will all drastically affect the way you go about list
construction, never mind further details of how to approach an actual game when
you factor in the specifics of what your opponent has taken.

Add to this the main issue I have
noticed with going into a new game and it gets confusing.

This issue I raise is what I
shall, very imaginatively, call the “Numbers on a Page Conundrum”. Some people
love this, the challenge of making the maths work to the best of our ability.
Hearthstone seems to be the ultimate version of this. I, however, have less
than any interest in this state of affairs. I like being restricted by other
factors such as fluff etc.

Add to this the lack of some
quartermaster-type app to easily design lists (whilst offline) and things were
just getting hard.

Carrying your own coffin to battle saves a lot of time (especially if your head is on fire)

Then I decided to make things
happen and just arrange some games. I ground my teeth, assembled some models
and trusted that the madness would take care of itself.

I’ll go into details at a later
date, but I shall summarise my initial thoughts as follows:

This is a brilliant game.

All my issues with it fade away
when put against the fun of playing this game.

The tables look good

The pre-game list building is a great additional
challenge

The thought process of selecting schemes to
complement (or make up for) strategies is brilliant

The multiple ways of scoring points adds
flexibility

The card management mechanic allows various
approaches

The sheer diversity in how various models and
crews operate explains the endless ramblings that create the online fan
presence for this game

The fact a crew easily fits into my work bag

On paper a lot of the above annoy
(or perhaps just confuse) me, but when it comes to the table, it’s fun. It helps,
of course, having literally no idea what my opponent can do, so I get to just
worry about myself!

Right now I can honestly say that
if I could play this game two or three times a week I would take it up and feel
like I wanted more – something I haven’t been able to say about a game in
years.

My enjoyment is enhanced by the
fact I know I will not fall into the endless pit this game could easily become.
I do not like most of the models in the range, so won’t be buying them. I have
always also enjoyed imposing restrictions on myself in all games I play, so the
challenge of trying to complete the various mad strategies against the legion
of even madder possible opponents utilising a small pool of models fits seamlessly
into that.

It also has had me doing some
terrible painting, which twitter tells me is a good thing.

So there is that.

I shall report back on games and
further thoughts in future posts.

But for now, I have to say, this
crazy world of cards, gothic horror clichés, murky options and, of course, fauxs is very impressive.

Thursday, 15 October 2015

I
found myself idly musing something whilst finding myself in one of those
deliciously precious moments when I had literally nothing better to do (namely,
whilst trying not to inhale the armpit of the commuter next to me on the
Northern Line).

Whilst
I may have never made a secret of my view on this point, I have probably never
expressed it fully. When considering players of that (relative) cultural
colossus, Warhammer Fantasy Battles, and the things that were written and said immediately
following it’s cancelation, (inarguably the most despair-inducing event since
Fox killed Firefly) one thing keeps coming back to me:

Not
only do I not understand people who neither have respect for, or are prepared
to give the benefit of the doubt to, Games Workshop - I find their stance somehow
insulting and it undeniably makes me respect them a lot less.

A
reasoned viewpoint? Probably not, but the beauty of the human condition (as
opposed to that of, say, a giraffe whose every act (if perhaps not its
appearance) makes sense) is that we are fundamentally nuts. Heck, I am told some
people actually like beetroot, have nonsensical political views, engage in
physical violence somehow connected to the sporting team they support or actually
enjoy the recent movies of Adam Sandler (OK, I made that last one up, no likes
those). This madness is part of the never-ending fun that will probably
culminate in the end of the world – what a ride!

My
particular branch of madness is a deliberately old fashioned approach to a
number of things – predominately those related to manners and associated human
actions. I actively despise the immediacy of the modern consumer culture and
the short-termism best illustrated by the 24 hour news cycle and its
implications. I also don’t think easier (or cheaper) is always better, nor do I
demand perfection in a product, often liking something specifically because
there is something wrong with it.

Flat
out Old Skool right? (Though you’ll note, being august readers of this rambling
discourse that I spelt ‘School’ with a ‘k’, and am therefore edgy and down with
the kids).

Why
have I lead the dear reader behind the curtain to the machinations of my own
particular brand of madness?

I
have tried before to articulate why I was always going to give Age of Sigmar a
chance, and this is fundamentally why (or as much why (or fundamentalism) as I
can come up with in the morning waiting for my coffee).

As
with all my thoughts on the various games in this series my views and
impressions will be coming from an incomplete data set, and probably never more
so than in this particular case.

Once
the excitement of initial the leaks died out, the Great Schism of 2015 had
finished destroying international friendships based on initial impressions of a
set of guidelines on how to best use plastic toys and the game *finally* came
out it was time to explore and reflect upon what my initial impressions of the
game actually were.

There
is something I only fully appreciated for the first time when I embarked on
this self-imposed odyssey – there are different ways of releasing a new game. I
should clarify, as this is self-evidently apparent at face value. My point is
that the different approaches to releasing a game can have a fundamental impact
of my appreciation and enjoyment of them on a visceral level. This gut feel
will be tempered with the real world business filter I like to apply to such
things, but it is no less real for that.

What
am I actually talking about? Namely, how armies are presented and sold (and
fluff implications there within).

My
view on this topic has actually changed considerably upon contact with the real
world (I know, this lack of steel in my poorly conceived convictions makes me
terrible at Winning The Internet). In theory I liked the idea that you could be
given a small nucleus of information on a faction and the rules for their “core”
units in one place and then new units could keep coming out with rules in the
box/future publications. This allows for better “living” games after all.

It
shocked me to discover (SPOILER for my views on Malifaux and X-Wing) that I *HATE*
this with a passion.

It
is easy to say that, but really, it’s a red-filtered, enunciation-altering,
fist-quivering inducement to anger that descends upon me when I pause to
consider it. Either that or my triple espresso has finally kicked in.

As
with most things that I hate, I do *get* it. It’s cheaper for the manufacturer,
it means the cost of the entry products can be cheaper, it is easier for lil’
Timmy to get involved, it gives the company in question full flexibility on
direction and makes it easier to protect their intellectual property.

It
does lead me to the first of my two main problems with Age of Sigmar though.

Disclaimer (I’ll wedge this in here because why the hell not): I am
pretty much ignoring the release of the PDFs with the rules allowing for
backwards compatibility that GW very kindly released the week before release
(directly leading to the Great Schism of 2015). Those were cool and all, and
allowed us to play straight away, but have little correlation to the future
shape of the game.

Problem
One: (Fluff/Package/Cost related)

The
hardback rulebook for Warhammer Fantasy Battles was a brilliant resource. Sure,
in this modern age paying however much for just a book becomes a harder and
harder sell, but the truth remains. Sure, the rules were there, but the really
cool thing about it was the background on all the races.

This
section worked to give you a feel for each of the armies you could one day play
in the game. An idea of their driving aims, their narrative drivers. There were
hooks here and you could love the idea, long before you worked out whether or
not they played accordingly or if you liked the models.

This
is obviously easier when updating editions of an existing game than when
releasing a whole new one, but it remains annoying.

Armed
with the box game and the first hard back book they released I start to get a
picture for the new world they have thrown us into. And I absolutely love
aspects of it. I love the way they have split the Ages, I like the cameos of
some of the known and loved characters from eons past. I’m all about having
gods directly interacting in the world of mortals. I enjoy that they are
telling the story in a building narrative. I’m excited with the flipping of the
normal conventions, introducing us to this setting as Sigmar launches his
long-awaited counterattack upon the forces of Chaos.

All
very cool.

The
lack of information the other races infuriates me. Narratively this is all
dealt with well enough – it is simply not known what has happened to the Aelfs
for example. This would be fine, but it completely hampers forward-looking
enthusiasm. If you don’t fall in love with the Stormcast Eternals or the forces
of the Blood God (both rather one dimensional armies after all) what have you
got to grasp onto? Not much unfortunately.

GW
have since released some further materials (and tie-in novels), of which I hear
good things, but their existence does not invalidate my annoyance on this
point. Even if I were to take a two year break and come back when, one assumes,
there was a lot more information out and about for the various races, how many resources
would I have to buy to get a basic understanding of the players in this
universe?

Problem
Two: (Game related)

The
elephant in the room, as Krylov would have noted, is a big one. It is probably
the major cause of the Great Schism of 2015 (well, that and rectangles.
Seriously, it turns out people love rectangles, who knew?). I refer, of course,
to the lack of an army selection mechanic within the game.

I’m
not going to go on about this – it’s just too obvious to bother with.

I
fully understand the initial view from GW on this topic – players are forever
changing the army selection criteria they create/communities will be better at
devising one for their own needs/it has an impact on people playing cool scenario
games/freedom is good/USA! USA! USA!/ahem…

These
are all real and true (USA definitely is, I used to live there and everything).
The conclusion drawn, however, is asinine.

As
has been covered, the people that really suffer as a result are the casual pick
up gamers, the new blood they are working to bring on board. It’s so
infuriating it makes you want to scream.

Of
course, personally it is less of an issue. It is a self-evident truth that a
community of some amount of critical mass will always be better than any
company at keeping points (or points equivalent) balanced. In every game there
are units that not seen because other options are better for their cost. Sometimes,
as with X Wing, the manufacturers try and retcon in something to make older
stuff better, but the very fact this was needed proves a lack of balance.

A
framework or high level overview of what a game should look like is quite
simply something that is needed.

This
is a big black mark on the game’s report card.

These
two (major) issues aside, there is, it turns out, a hell of a lot to commend GW
on in relation to this game.

Fluff

It
is probably not surprising that the fluff is turning out to be good, I would
argue background materials are what GW is best at in comparison to its peer
group. I like the vaguely Asgardian feel to it, and the mysteries being
unveiled as the story progresses. Sure, plenty of it is pretty out there, but
when you compare it with the general tropes of the genre (and the Old World
that preceded it) it is a welcome shift away from the “here is a continent
split into x parts, the various nations are at war/neutral/in uneasy
alliance with each other” that is the Tolkenian-inspired norm.

My
issues with how it is being presented aside, I am actually quite impressed. Tasked
with creating a new world to that was unique (and protectable), I am not sure
they could have done anything cooler.

Game

The
mechanics of this game are (obviously) very different to its predecessor.
Thankfully a comparison is not our mission here today – I started on an article
on that and could never quite finish it. That said – the fact that a) I
struggled to come to a conclusion, and b) that I liked 8th a lot
(though in all honesty I was bored with it by the end) will allow the sharp
minded sleuth the ammunition to make an educated guess as to my thoughts.

Putting
aside the aforementioned army composition problem (which, as I mentioned, is
not *that* much of a problem for a scene – heck the whole of 9th Age
is community written, army composition is incredibly simple in comparison) I
think that, in many ways AoS is more fun than 8th edition, and the
rules application on the table top quite often felt more natural as well.

The
flow of the game is good, and things like the infamous “double turn” threat
adds to the cost benefit analysis at the heart of any good game.

Crucially
for me, the limitations imposed by the (much beloved) rectangles we have been
used to playing with are no longer a thing. I understand that movement skill
was a big thing in 8th edition, but the idea you could not attack someone
because they are standing four feet to the left of you and your regimental
comrades is, obviously, so ridiculous that it takes you out of the game.

I’ve
touched in other places the things I have enjoyed about the mechanics of the
game, so I will leave it there. For me, it seems like a very solid ruleset.

An
aside: there is a particular (and in my opinion peculiar) mindset that holds
that tweaks to a game are, to put it one way, a big deal. For me, something
along the lines of “let’s measure from bases” is, as they would say in the film
business, dealt with in a line of dialogue. No big deal.

That
all said, you can’t give this game full marks in this category yet. The lack of
variety of armies (and to an extent company-let army criteria) means that you don’t
get that delicious day dreaming about how you can possibly get your perfect combo
of 634points of characters into your 600point allowance, or sweat over how to
make your “core tax” as effective as possible.

This
is, of course, a by-product of the newness of the game, but it is real
nonetheless.

Visual

I
think this is the strongest category for Age of Sigmar. Not only are the models
that GW produces simply aesthetically and technically brilliant, the game, in
my opinion, looks great on the table.

I
can’t remember who it was who said it about AoS, but I agree that the game
feels like a 1:1 representation of a battle, unlike games using our (beloved)
rectangles. If we look at WFB as an example, 5 or 10 models ranked up shoulder
to shoulder makes no ‘real’ sense. Regimented close formations only make any
sense with a degree of mass (it being, after all, the whole bloody point).
Kings of War, to a large extent, could be played with blocks of wood for unit
representation, in the style of military history maps (note: this is in no way
a criticism, I quite like that). There is something about they look of AoS on
the table, the way models interact with the terrain and the level of carnage therein
somehow looks and feels right.

Cost

Well,
it’s hard to say until more stuff comes out. There are some things to consider
though:

The starter set is incredibly good
value

Assuming a lot of things will remain
backwards compatible will save a lot of time

The follow on models do seem pricy

The
piecemeal releasing of the fluff definitely ramps us the cost, and I have
pointed out my issue with it

In
short though, this game is too young (release wise), for me to be comfortable
about making proclamations on this subject. Hopefully by the time I wrap up
this series there will be more clarity here and I can revisit the point.

Package

I’ve
highlighted my significant issues with how the game is bundled for sale. It almost
goes without saying that what have available for purchase is stunningly
beautiful and, from what I have seen so far, absolutely industry-leading in
design and quality. There are elements to micro-transaction-itis I hate, but
that is the modern way.

So
yeah, what there is stunning, but am not a fan of how it’s been sold.

Fun

So.
I’ve loved the games I have played, and enjoyed the ones I have watched. That
being said, I have obviously not played/observed a mathematically significant
number of games.

It
occurred to me when discussing this with someone that if you took notes of my
last 50 games of WFB 8th edition I would be surprised if more than 5
of them could be unequivocally described as ‘fun’ (and even those would be
largely down to my opponent rather than the table top action), and at least 20
would, if used to demonstrate to a complete beginner what Warhammer was, have
cost the hobby a potential gamer. I bring this up because I still consider WFB
to be ‘fun’ despite this.

I
guess it comes down to the overall experience, and is largely a gut feel (for a
change…). For me, Age of Sigmar is currently a cautious ‘yes’ on the fun quotient.

Scene

Well,
this one is both impossible and easy. I have only been to one event thus far,
and they were all people from the WFB scene in the UK, which was brilliant (we
even allowed some Australians to take part).

Unfortunately
for the scene in these fair isles there has been a big gap between Clash (and an
event in the land of the skirt-wearing freckled Northmen) and the next
established event for the system. There are a couple of reasons for this – a traditional
gap in the diary twinned with the aforementioned Great Schism of 2015. I can’t
imagine either of those have helped with numbers. Time will of course tell, and
the success of the likes of Blood & Glory and SCGT will be key.

A
large part of this will be thing underlining theme we keep coming back to – new
stuff is needed to be released, or if not released (I understand you have to
let the 40k gorilla have a go as well), gamers have to have a visibility of
what is coming out. This current phoney war has just confused the situation. A
lot.

All
this said, it is obviously too early to tell fully. The fact that, one assumes
(assuming stuff is safe right?) there will be a lot of shared DNA with the
previous scene is a plus.

The
fact that our European colleagues have turned their back on this game is not a
good thing and, if not quite an elephant, is a cat in the room – it doesn’t necessarily
affect most people, but to those who are, it’s a real pain. The ETC was a
fantastic experience and I would love to return. If I were to get into the team
again I would be forced to play as much 9th Age (at the expense of
the likes of AoS) as possible, meaning I would miss out on friends still in the
scene. If I am unsuccessful in my application I would probably end up missing
out on friends who made it in as they focused on 9th at expense of whatever
I am playing (unless that’s 9th of course)... Either way, not ideal.

For
now though, a cautious positive on this count – I have heard great things from
the events I recall reading/hearing about and enjoyed the one I attended. By
the time this series wraps up I’ll have a better view on this.

So, there is my swift run through of initial my impressions of
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar. It was rushed because I have already written and said
plenty on the subject, I’d apologies, but you’re probably over it already. I
have deliberately not touched on several aspects of the specifics, as they
could fuel essays of their own.

I’m looking forward to exploring new games and how new (to me) manufacturers
go about their business – should be fun.

When it comes to the final instalment I will review all my pluses and
minuses, and allocate some weighting – but for now:

Fluff

﻿

Game (on the table)

﻿

Game (army selection)

﻿﻿

Visual

Cost

Package

﻿

Fun

Scene

I
have a broadly positive feel about this particular adventure, but a bad feeling
that things could go very, very wrong. Sensibly I should have done this one
last of all, but it is what I was thinking, and one has to do something with
the odd hour or so of free time in a working morning (when work itself simply
will not do).

Anyway,
I am looking forward to exploring the new crazy world of other games in the
coming weeks.

About Me

Who am I? Well, that’s deep!
In short, a half Brazilian, half British Warhammer tournament player with an opinion on pretty much everything!
Welcome to RaffazzaTime – a blog predominantly focused on my take on my hobby and the Warhammer tournament scene in the UK.
I have been in and around the hobby since 1994 – with a big break in the early 2000s. Have actively played Warhammer, 40k, Bloodbowl, Necromunda, Mordheim, Epic, Battlefleet Gothic and even some GorkaMorka at various times. Been active in the UK WFB tournament scene since the release of 8th edition.
This blog will be my ramblings on the game, tournaments, lists, and maybe even some introspective soul-searching ;)

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